Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets

When the Swedish Academy awarded Svetlana Alexievich the Nobel Prize, it cited her for inventing "a new kind of literary genre", describing her work as "a history of emotions - a history of the soul". Alexievich's distinctive documentary style, combining extended individual monologues with a collage of voices, records the stories of ordinary women and men who are rarely given the opportunity to speak, whose experiences are often lost in the official histories of the nation.

The Children Act

Fiona Maye is a High Court judge in London presiding over cases in family court. She is fiercely intelligent, well respected, and deeply immersed in the nuances of her particular field of law. Often the outcome of a case seems simple from the outside, the course of action to ensure a child's welfare obvious. But the law requires more rigor than mere pragmatism, and Fiona is expert in considering the sensitivities of culture and religion when handing down her verdicts.

Henderson the Rain King

Bellow evokes all the rich colour and exotic customs of a highly imaginary Africa in this comic novel about a middle-aged American millionaire who, seeking a new, more rewarding life, descends upon an African tribe. Henderson's awesome feats of strength and his unbridled passion for life earns him the admiration of the tribe - but it is his gift for making rain that turns him from mere hero into messiah.

Meditations

One of the most significant books ever written by a head of State, the Meditations are a collection of philosophical thoughts by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121 - 180 ce). Covering issues such as duty, forgiveness, brotherhood, strength in adversity and the best way to approach life and death, the Meditations have inspired thinkers, poets and politicians since their first publication more than 500 years ago. Today, the book stands as one of the great guides and companions - a cornerstone of Western thought.

The Count of Monte Cristo

Dashing young Edmond Dantès has everything: a fine reputation, an appointment as captain of a ship, and the heart of a beautiful woman. But his perfect life is shattered when three jealous friends conspire to destroy him. Falsely accused of a political crime, Dantès is locked away for life in the infamous Chateau d'If prison. But it is there that Dantès learns of a vast hidden treasure.

Wuthering Heights [Recorded Books Edition]

Catherine Earnshaw's passionate statement reveals the core of Emily Bronte's tempestuous literary masterpiece. Meeting as children, Catherine and Heathcliff begin a relationship that grows into obsession as family, class, and fate work against them as much as their own jealous natures.

Nicholas Nickleby

The most gorgeously theatrical of all Dickens's novels, Nicholas Nickleby follows the delightful adventures of a hearty young hero in 19th-century England. Nicholas, a gentleman's son fallen upon hard times, must set out to make his way in the world. His journey is accompanied by some of the most swaggering scoundrels and unforgettable eccentrics in Dickens's pantheon.

Breakfast of Champions

Breakfast of Champions (1973) provides frantic, scattershot satire and a collage of Vonnegut's obsessions. His recurring cast of characters and American landscape was perhaps the most controversial of his canon; it was felt by many at the time to be a disappointing successor to Slaughterhouse-Five, which had made Vonnegut's literary reputation.

Gulliver's Travels: A Signature Performance by David Hyde Pierce

A Signature Performance: Four-time Emmy Award winner David Hyde Pierce delivers an air of lovable self-importance in his rendition of the classic social satire that remains as fresh today as the day it was published.

Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West

Author of the National Book Award-winning All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy is one of the most provocative American stylists to emerge in the last century. The striking novel Blood Meridian offers an unflinching narrative of the brutality that accompanied the push west on the 1850s Texas frontier.

Persuasion

Anne Elliot has grieved for seven years over the loss of her first love, Captain Frederick Wentworth. But events conspire to unravel the knots of deceit and misunderstanding in this beguiling and gently comic story of love and fidelity.

Audible Editor Reviews

Polish-born English writer Joseph Conrad has influenced writers from Ernest Hemingway to V. S. Naipaul with his worldly perspective and insight into the human condition. This audiobook brings listeners two of his greatest stories, Youth and Heart of Darkness.

Both pieces draw upon Conrad’s experience as a sailor. The first story, Youth, is about a young seaman’s misadventures, including a violent storm and an onboard fire, aboard a ship called Judea. The second story, the classic Heart of Darkness, tells the tales of one man’s search down the Congo River for the mysterious ivory trader named Mr. Kurtz.

With a slight New York accent, Jim Roberts delivers a ringing, smooth reading of these classic works.

Publisher's Summary

These two famous stories by Joseph Conrad are both told by the same narrator - Marlow. As the main character in Youth, Marlow tells the story of his first voyage to the East as second mate on board the Judea. In the story, the 20-year-old Marlow is contrasted with the 60-year-old skipper and the grandfatherly third mate. Marlow states: "I felt like a small boy between two grandfathers."

Heart of Darkness features Marlow 22 years later and deals with maturity and old age.This highly symbolic story follows Marlow as he recounts his adventure into the Congo to a group of men aboard a ship anchored in the Thames Estuary. Marlow was employed to transport ivory downriver, but his more pressing assignment was to return another trader, Kurtz, to civilization in a cover up. Kurtz had an unsavory reputation throughout the region. The last sentences in the story, including Kurtz words ,"The Horror, The Horror," are among the most famous in English literature.

One of the all time great stories and its prologue, put simply, ruined by the narrator's droning delivery, constant mispronunciations and an east coast accent that insists on putting R's on any word that ends in a vowel. Even though you get the earlier "Youth", this reading is NOT worth it, in my oppinion, at any price.